No! :) It depends on you, but I'd take the longer route if I can maximize my J/Y time ratio.

How long is the Y part NRT-SYD anyway? It looks like 6 hours or so?

NRT-SYD is blocked for 15hrs because they make a stop in HKG. QF is not overnighting crews in NRT for now, so they pick up a crew in HKG. The return is nonstop and blocked for 10hrs - still 4850 mi.

I do get a few more miles for this routing, but not as much as you'd think, since the QF segments only earn 50%.

The improved J/Y ratio and the emptiness of the Y cabin on QF is pushing me in that direction. It's always risky to travel on 2 separate tickets and the current situation makes it riskier. That's my main concern.

Put both tickets on one PNR.

I'm not finding any way to book both tickets at once. The QF sectors are of some discount Y basis. Can AA put 2 tickets on one PNR when ticket #2 is not an AA flight? Would it even make a difference for protecting me if things go awry?

Also consider routing via PVG. NRT-SYD and PVG-SYD are almost the same distance. However, PVG-SYD has no stop. Also, AA's new LAX-PVG will earn you bonus miles.

However, note that the new route only starts on April 5 and upgrade availability may not be as good.

If you want to book the QF flights on the same ticket, you can try selecting All carriers on aa.com and see if it shows up (not all discounted fares on other carriers shows up on aa.com). Calling the reservation may also help.

Not an expert at all on AA's site for non-AA carriers (I've used it to book a couple of non-AA flights, but that's it), but would choosing "All Carriers" in conjunction with forcing the routing via multi-city make it work?

OK, too curious to just let that question stand. ;)

I just tested it for grins and giggles and it gave me the option for AA LAX-NRT and QF (flight 22) NRT-SYD (9 hours, 50 minutes), so it looks like it will let you book. Not sure how the fare will price out for you, though--it was pricing out with N class on the AA flights but Y on the QF flights, at least on the dates I was playing with (4/5-4/10).

Oh, I was searching by schedule under multi-city. Searching by price under multi-city, I couldn't get the flights you wanted to show up. I also couldn't get it to show up searching by schedule under round-trip--I could get the outbound (LAX-NRT-SYD on AA and QF), but on the return, the only option to NRT was JL. (And searching by price under round-trip, nothing via NRT was offered at all.)

The QF segments NRT-SYD are pricing on a deep discount Y on the QF website. On AA.com I can get the flights to come up, but they price much more expensively. I can't book all in one place for a reasonable price. And I was seeing the return SYD-NRT occasionally disappearing from searches.

Interestingly, in my searching, I see a difference between searching "AA and OW" vs. "All Carriers". "All Carriers" seems to not return some low priced options that are a combination of OW carriers, say AA and QF. I should try that methodically to see what gets lost. But it appears that "All Carriers" does not include all possible results for AA only or AA+OW.

It might be worth a call to the EXP desk to see if the agent can book what you see on the QF and on AA.

AA suspends one DFW-NRT & JFK-HND
 

With DL and UA announcing cuts to Japan, it was only a matter of time before AA decided to follow suit. Suspended until April 26.

FWIW, my refund was credited to my card today.